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Origen of Alexandria (185-254), one of the most prolific authors of antiquity and arguably the most important and influential pre-Nicene Christian theologian, was a man of deep learning and holiness of life. Regrettably, many of his works are no longer extant, in part due to the condemnation of his ideas by the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553. The condemnation, however, took little account of his historical circumstances and the tentative nature of his speculations. The anathemas were more likely directed toward sixth-century Origenist views than to the views of Origen himself, though clearly he expounded some views that would be judged unacceptable today.

Origen’s numerous homilies provide the oldest surviving corpus of Christian sermons and shaped exegesis for succeeding centuries. With Jerome he was one of the early church’s great critical and literal exegetes. Devoutly he sought to develop a spiritual exegesis of the Old Testament grounded in the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Homilies on Numbers presented here offer a splendid example of his spiritual interpretation of Old Testament texts. He asks, “What foreshadowing, what warning, what instruction, what encouragement, reproof, correction or exhortation, do we find in the narratives of Numbers for our benefit as Christians?”

Here, based on Baehren’s critical Latin text, is the first English edition of these homilies, ably translated with explanatory notes by Thomas P. Scheck.

About This Series:Ancient Christian Texts is a series of new translations of full-length commentaries and sermons based on biblical books or extended scriptural passages by early church leaders like Ambrosiaster, Origen, Cyril of Alexandria and many others, most of which are presented in English for the first time. With today's best scholarship, the Ancient Christian Texts provides you with the resources you need to study for yourself the key writings of the early church in a way never before possible.